Mark 13
COMMENTARY:
: 11 But when they shall lead you, and deliver you up, take no thought beforehand what ye shall speak, neither do ye premeditate: but whatsoever shall be given you in that hour, that speak ye: for it is not ye that speak, but the Holy Ghost. (3191 “premeditate” [meletao] means to care for, attend to carefully, practice, contrive, plot, think about, cultivate, study, revolve in your mind, or take pains with.)
DEVOTION: Whenever you are going to give a speech in a class in school you think about it for a long time. You want to do well when you speak because you are going to get a grade on it.
In Seminary there are classes in homiletics and hermeneutics to help you prepare a good message to preach on any given Sunday. You have to give a sermon in class and the rest of the students give you a grade and make comments on how you can improve your sermon. Some of the comments are not very nice.
Once you leave Seminary you go to a church and there the congregation gives you their thoughts regarding your sermons. Even there the comments might not be very nice.
A sermon should have good Biblical content. It should be organized with points that come to a conclusion. There can be illustrations. It is said that for every minute preached there should be an hour of preparation. It is not as easy as it looks to preach a sermon. I have given people who thought it would be easy to preach an opportunity to preach and they found out the truth.
Here we find that when people are gathered during the Tribulation to speak before those who want to condemn them to death that they are not to think about what they are going to say beforehand because the Holy Spirit will give them just the right words to say.
The Holy Spirit should be involved in every sermon that is preached in every Biblical church in our world. That doesn’t happen some of the time. In the future it will not be just the preachers who are going to stand before the judges.
CHALLENGE: Be watchful and available for the Holy Spirit to speak through you all the time.
: 32 But of that day and that hour knows no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father. (1492 “knows” [oida] means to have knowledge about someone or something, understand, remember, perceive, be very sure of this, to acknowledge, or discern.)
DEVOTION: In recent days we have had people predict the day that the LORD would return. One radio speaker predicted a day in 2012 when the LORD would return. People listened to him and sold everything they had and quit their jobs and waited for it to happen. The man received millions of dollars to spend on signs and newspaper ads to warn people of the Day of Judgment coming.
The problem was that it didn’t happen and those who don’t know Christ were laughing at those who believed this man. It was a poor testimony to the LORD. This verse informs us that NO ONE knows the day of the LORD’S return. This is Jesus speaking to HIS disciples. HE wanted them to know that there would be people who would say what this man said and HE called them false prophets.
Even in churches that believe the Bible there are people who don’t believe the plain teachings of Scripture.
Don’t fall into the trap of those who are in the cults who predict the day of the LORD’S return or those in Biblical churches who predict a day of the LORD’S return. Both are false prophets. Even though the man apologized it hurt the testimony of the church. Don’t predict a day but be prepared for the day when you will meet the LORD.
I believe this day is going to happen after the church is taken out of the world. It will happen at the end of the Tribulation. So the next event I am waiting for is the Rapture of the Church. Then the next event is the seven year Tribulation. At the end of the Tribulation this will happen.
CHALLENGE: Our responsibility is to invite all those we know to become believers in Christ. Our message is necessary. Many will not listen but you might at least reach one.
: 34 For the Son of man is as a man taking a far journey, who left his house, and gave authority to his servants, and to every man his work, and commanded the porter to watch. (1849 “authority” [exousia] means power, right, liberty, jurisdiction, power of choice, liberty of doing as one pleases, capability, permission, control over, or ruling power.)
DEVOTION: God the Father has given HIS Son authority to give authority to those who are HIS followers on earth. HE left the earth over two thousand years ago. HE gave HIS disciples a command to “Occupy” until HE comes for the church.
We are part of the church at present if we have made a commitment to HIM. HE has given us authority to come to HIM with a request to help us be the witness HE wants us to be to our world.
Our present occupation is Witness. Even if we have a so-called secular job that is our avocation. It is not something that should occupy our thoughts twenty-four hours a day. It is not your avocation that provides your money but the LORD. HE has promised to provide all we need according to all HIS riches in heaven. If we fall into the trap that our avocation is what gives us status we are wrong. It is our vocation as a witness for the LORD that gives us status in Heaven.
Don’t fall for the lie of the devil that it is your avocation that makes you important. It is not the money you make that is important. It is what we do for the LORD that makes the difference.
So many people are struggling to make ends meet through their employer when it is really the LORD who is our employer and HE gives us the blessings that last for eternity.
CHALLENGE: Don’t settle for less than serving the LORD while here on this earth. It will put a smile on your face because you are serving the King of kings and Lord of lords.
: 37 And what I say unto you I say unto all, watch. (1127 “watch” [gregoreuo] means stay awake, be alert, give strict attention to, be cautious, active, to take heed lest through remission and indolence some destructive calamity suddenly overtake one, or be vigilant.)
DEVOTION: Jesus is informing his disciples that there are future happenings that they have to be aware of, so that, they can warn others. It all starts with a disciple looking at the Temple and admiring the stones on the buildings. Jesus tells him that the Temple is going to be destroyed.
Four of the disciples ask HIM when these things are going to happen. HE begins to explain the future plans for our world. God had a plan from before HE created the world and HE is working HIS plan. It is not a plan made up as time moves on. It was made before time began on earth.
In the future, God is going to allow false christs to come and deceive people. There are going to be false prophets as well. It will be a time when there will be wars and rumors of wars. It will be a time when the disciples of Christ will be persecuted. It will be a time when family members will turn in other family members.
When the devil knows his time is short, he will do signs and wonders by false prophets. He will try to deceive even the elect of God. We find that there are at least three groups of “elect” talked about in Scripture. There is the elect of the Old Testament. There is the elect of the Church age. There is finally the elect of the Tribulation period. The Tribulation period is still future. This is the time period Jesus is telling the disciples about now.
Why is Jesus warning his disciples now? HE wants them to teach others that they have a responsibility to stay alert and pray until his second coming. That warning is for us to share with those around us. We are the future generations of saints who are to warn the next generation to stay alert and pray.
Are we warning the next generation that false christs and false prophets are coming that can do signs and wonders in the power of the Devil. To deceive all they can with their false teachings.
We have to learn what sound doctrine or teaching is today. We need to believe the Bible is true. Today there are many churches that are teaching false doctrine. There are many people who call themselves Christians who don’t care about finding out what the Bible teaches. They want to live their lives their way and if God fits in – they will do it. Those who are true followers of God will want to learn more about true doctrine. Are we staying awake and warning people about the times we live in today?
This word is used four times in this chapter to inform those who are alive during the Tribulation to be prepared.
Back up our beliefs regarding the future with the Word of God. There are many interpretations regarding when and who will go through the Tribulation.
CHALLENGE: We need to learn and share our belief with those individuals who are instructed by us. Doctrine was important to Christ and it should be important to us!!!
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